"Halo" Live Action Television Series Gets Green Light From Showtime

"Halo" makes its way to cable TV.

Halo is the reason I bought an Xbox in 2001, and the reason I've been a faithful Microsoft gamer for almost twenty years. Anyone who was affected by the launch of the first Halo feels the same way. The game changed first-person shooters for an entire generation of gamers. Since its inception, Halo has inspired novels, comics, and short animated and live action stories. Now, after spending years in development hell, Showtime has greenlit a Halo television series.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Showtime announced Thursday that it has picked up 10 episodes of the live-action space drama series. Kyle Killen (Lone Star, Awake) will serve as executive producer, writer, and showrunner. Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is set to direct several episodes of the series, and will also serve as an executive producer alongside Killen. Microsoft/343 Industries and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television are among the show's producers. Production will begin in the first quarter of 2019.

"Halo is our most ambitious series ever, and we expect audiences who have been anticipating it for years to be thoroughly rewarded," Showtime CEO David Nevins stated. "In the history of television, there simply has never been enough great science fiction. Kyle Killen's scripts are thrilling, expansive and provocative; Rupert Wyatt is a wonderful, world-building director; and their vision of Halo will enthrall fans of the game while also drawing the uninitiated into a world of complex characters that populate this unique universe."